Welcome to Internet
Homeworking Directory.
TRANSLATION WORK
tranfree issue 18 - 5th September 2000
Welcome to issue 18 of tranfree - the free ezine
for translators.
September 2000 already - I can hardly believe it.
translatortips.com has been going for a year and a half now
and we've added some new features to celebrate. For details
see... "Find New Translation Jobs Faster" below. This is our
great new free job filtering service which will save you
time on a daily basis if you ever look for work on the net.
All you have to do is go there and register - it's free.
http://www.translatortips.com/translation-jobs.html
***
tranfree now has over 9,600 subscribers. If there's
anyone you know who is interested in translation or
interpreting, please send them a complimentary copy of
tranfree - thanks :)
The translatortips.com site facelift is virtually
complete. All of the main pages are now done. The most
recently updated part is the translatortips.com message
board...
http://www.translatortips.com/translator-bb/
***
I'd like to welcome Phil Naylor - our new business
development manager. I've reached the stage now where my
time is so divided between different activities that I want
my life back. If I continue at this rate I won't last
long...
So I've arranged for Phil to take care of much of the
day-to-day running of translatortips.com and develop new
ideas that have been on hold for months already. There will
be more news as developments happen. Phil joins us on 18th
September.
This should enable us to give you a better service and
more facilities as time goes by. :-)
Enjoy and benefit from tranfree ;-)
Alex Eames, tranfree editor, translatortips.com founder
Author
- How
to Earn $80,000+ per Year as a Freelance Translator
This month's tranfree contains:
*******************************
* Letter of the Month
* A Serious Business - Alex Eames
* Find New Translation Jobs Faster - Alex Eames
* Time Management Tips for the Freelance Translator pt I
by Mary Maloof
* Linkers Prize Draw
* Translation Joke of the Month
Letter of the Month
*******************
"Hello Alex,
Inspired by the book I ordered the tranmail product a few
weeks later. By the way, I was very pleased with the
response to my applications (I re-wrote my resume, designed
a fabulous marketing letter and sent request for free-lance
work to all of the American and Canadian companies (I'm
located in Vancouver) listed in tranmail.
The response was overwhelming- I spent about six hours
one day just sending out letters and almost instantly
getting feedback.The response of the Americans was almost 40
%, while the Canadians were somewhat less enthusiastic,
about 2%.
Four companies were seriously interested in my
specialties and actually promised to send me some work soon.
(As it always happens, I am completely booked right now, but
who knows - those days waiting by the fax machine might soon
come along..)All of the responses were extremely polite (but
then, my letter was simpy irresistable;)! Thanks for
compiling a great book and an excellent list."
Johanna Trimm, Vancouver
***
Thanks Johanna,
Alex Eames, tranfree editor
***
=================================================================
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---------------------------------------
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------------
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=================================================================
A Serious Business - but not everyone seems to agree
******************
by Alex Eames
Just back from summer holiday and the same thing's
happened again this year. Two of the jobs we turned down
while we were away, from two of our regular clients have
come back to us. The first one because somebody, who
committed to doing the job,while we were travelling back,
had missed the deadline and wouldn't be able to deliver the
goods until 8pm this evening. So client phoned us at 4pm
asking if we could do it. So we said "yes we should be able
to do that". So we did it for them. So they crossed one more
translator (competitor) off their books as a possible
supplier. It hurts me to say that happened to a fellow
translator, but if you don't deliver on your promises that's
what you get!
The other client -- one of our big ones -- has just given
me 14,000 words of "English" to edit by Monday (it's Friday)
which I really could have done without. After spending an
hour on the phone, the client was practically begging me to
take it. He's committed to a contract and the translator had
supplied a very poor quality product.
It isn't really English at all -- it's "third
language" --definitely wasn't done by a native English
person as the translator promised. It needed a complete
rewrite. Not only that but there were at least 5 mistakes --
spelling, typos etc on every page. No spell-checker used
here -- perhaps they didn't have an English one since they
were obviously not native? :(
On top of this poor quality, the files were delivered
three days late too! This is two cardinal sins compounded
into one job. It looks like they were so pushed for time
that they haven't even read through it after finishing.
To make matters worse, the agency has been trying to
reach him for the last two days to get help straightening
out the shambles-- and he's not been answering the phone.
What could they do?
Only one option -- give it to somebody you know is
reliable. Unfortunately I don't want it! So they've offered
me a small fortune for doing it and I still don't want it.
:(
I eventually accepted the project. Not for the money -- I
don't really care about that - I'm so busy writing my next
book - and the dealine's looming. No I accepted it because
they are a really good and long-standing client. They have
been a good solid earner for us for the last six years and
this is my chance to show them how much I appreciate it by
getting them out of a really big hole. I feel obliged to
take it.
I said something about this last year in tranfree.
Sometimes when you go away and your clients are forced to
use other people, it can actually work in your favour
because it reminds them what a breath of fresh air it is to
work with you. It's a huge compliment for them to say to you
when you get back...
"We've missed you. The person we used while you were away
was terrible. Late, rude, not properly done etc."
Our strongest area is the relationship with the client.
If the client feels looked after... your future as a
supplier is assured.
If I tell the client that the file will be delivered by
10am Monday -- it darned well will. No excuses, no
exceptions! Even if I don't sleep all week-end it has to
happen. If you give your word, you keep it. OR ELSE! Some
people just don't get it.
There's an awful lot of people out there who don't take
business seriously and that's scary. I hear people bleating
in newsgroups about how our profession is not treated with
the respect we deserve. With individuals like the above two
cases is that exactly a big surprise? In a word - NO!
I'm sure you're not like this, but how can people expect
to succeed in business if they behave like that?
How can you expect to succeed in business if you don't
treat your clients seriously? I'll answer that... If you
don't treat your clients right and have a professional
relationship with them, you don't deserve to succeed... and
you won't!
So next time you're thinking of going on holiday...
* if you really deliver a quality relationship with your
clients
* if they enjoy doing business with you
* if they can almost take the quality of your service for
granted
...you really have NOTHING TO FEAR from the competition.
I'm probably preaching to the converted here, if so
forgive me... I find it incredible that there's seemingly so
few people out there who are capable of delivering the
goods. It seems incomprehensible to me. I really don't
understand it. As far as I can see there's nothing
particularly special about what I do.
I don't undersell myself -- but the quality of the
translations we do are probably no better or worse than 80%
of tranfree subscribers, but it's packaged differently.
The packaging is a lifetime relationship built on
long-term principles of business. That is my biggest secret.
Every time you interact with a client they are evaluating
you sub-consciously for the next assignment. If you treat
all your client interactions with one eye on the next
assignment, it will revolutionise the way you do business!
This is the most important element of my business
philosophy. To find out how to implement it the way I do,
check out my e-book...
How
to Earn $80,000+ per Year as a Freelance Translator
_________________________________________________________________
Alex Eames is the founder of translatortips.com, editor
of tranfree and author of the eBook...
How
to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator
________________________________________________________________
================ HELP WANTED! ================
Network Communications A/S urgently needs native
Norwegian and Swedish translators for ongoing technical
translation projects. Freelance and in-house positions
available. In-house employment can be at our offices in
Denmark or the UK. Most projects are from English, some from
German or Danish. Please apply to Robin Brown, Director,
Network Communications A/S,
robin@netcomms.dk
Homepage:
http://www.netcomms.dk
=================================================================
Find New Translation Jobs Faster...
********************************
Top 4 Internet Translation Job Sources
Collected And Filtered For
YOUR Languages...
Announcing translatortips(TM) MyPage...
Improved Efficiency Gives You Better Quality Of Life
----------------------------------------------------
Wow that's quite a claim Alex! Please justify it...
OK. On days when you aren't busy working, you're probably
busy looking for work right?
So you probably look through several online sources,
spending maybe 10-20 minutes at each one?
With translatortips(TM) MyPage you don't have to go
surfing around several different sites or sifting through
different mailing lists to find out if there's any new work
in town.
Recent ProZ and translatortips.com deals enable us to
bring you the translation jobs from 4 of the top 5 internet
sources (as voted by you the tranfree readers in March
2000).
Not only that, but our excellent filtering system means
that you will...
Only See The Jobs Specific
To Your Language Pair(S)
This will save you time every day, so you can get more
work done and spend more time with your family...
...Which Will Give You A Better Quality Of Life
Your translatortips(TM) MyPage will show you ALL jobs in
ALL your specific language pairs from the four biggest and
most popular online sources...
* ProZ
* Aquarius
* eGroups (2 separate major lists)
Make it your start page and...
Improve Your Lifestyle
Best of all it's FREE. Just Visit...
http://www.translatortips.com/translation-jobs.html
New Range Of FREE Services
--------------------------
translatortips(TM) MyPage is just one major part of a
whole new range of FREE services for you at
translatortips.com...
It's called translatortips(TM) workplace.
http://www.translatortips.com/translation-jobs.html
What's In It For YOU?
---------------------
* more translation work
--> more income
* help with difficult terminology or translation problems
(from human and online sources)
--> better quality translations = less complaints
* free publicity with your own profile pages
--> new clients
* hang out with other translators in our communities
--> get well known and clients will seek you out
* bid for a wide range of translation projects
--> new clients
* help other people with their translation problems
--> recognition, respect & satisfaction
http://www.translatortips.com/translation-jobs.html
I would love to get your feedback. Please go and have a
look, register if you like, and tell me what you think of
it.
http://www.translatortips.com/translation-jobs.html
Please send your feedback to...
workplace@translatortips.net
If anyone sends a suggestion that we implement, I'll send
them a free translatortips.com product (either tranmail or
my eBook). Please make sure feedback goes to this address...
workplace@translatortips.net
Who's Behind It?
----------------
translatortips(TM) workplace is a joint venture between
two of the leading web sites for translators...
* translatortips.com (Alex Eames)
* ProZ.com (Henry Dotterer)
We have not merged - we both like our independence too
much :)
It made so much sense for us to work together on a
project like this, that we just had to do it.
Join Now And Be One Of The First Members
----------------------------------------
If you are at all interested, please go and have a look
at...
http://www.translatortips.com/translation-jobs.html
...and please don't forget to send your feedback to...
workplace@translatortips.net
Alex Eames
http://www.translatortips.com
helping translators do better business
***
Like Sands Through The Hourglass.
*********************************
...So Are the Minutes of a Translator's Time:
Time Management Tips for the Freelance Translator
By Mary Maloof
Part I: Your Schedule - The Most Important Weapon In Your
Time Management Arsenal
We've got to admit, it's great to be a freelance
translator. It's impossible to find a "down side" to...
* working from the comfort of our own homes
* not having to commute and spend hours every week
shaking our fists at some crazy driver who has just cut us
off or sitting on our butts in molasses-slow traffic
* not having to deal with petty office politics and
backstabbing
* not having to deal with
unpleasant/idiotic/control-freak supervisors and office
policies which curtail productive decisionmaking,
micromanage us and stifle our creativity
* being the captains of our own career and financial
destinies.
But the biggest "plus" - all that unstructured time - is
definitely a double-edged sword.
We can take off the afternoon to enjoy lunch with a close
friend, run to the bank, or go to the doctor's office as
often as we need to without constantly checking our watches
to see if we're running late.
We can sleep late (or even lie in bed all day long) if
we're tired or sick, without having to worry about cutting
into one more day of our precious "sick leave."
We can close up shop early to take the dog to the park if
we don't feel like working any more that day. But on the
other end of the spectrum, we often stay at our computers
doing "one more thing" until - whoa, it's midnight! How the
heck did it get to be so late?
We can forget to eat our meals because we don't have
breaks scheduled in, and we can forget to take vacations and
end up running ourselves into the ground because we don't
have the customary several weeks of built-in
holiday/vacation leave.
It's a gigantic challenge to structure our time so that
we squeeze the most out of it without miring ourselves in
meaningless tasks that realize no profits, professional
development, or personal satisfaction, or that don't benefit
you and your business in some direct and concrete way.
The most helpful thing you can do for yourself and your
translation business is to impose some sort of structure on
all that unstructured time - preferably one that is similar
to what you would encounter in an in-house, corporate
position.
Hash out a schedule, establishing a definite time to
start the work day, blocking out a definite lunch hour or
half-hour, and setting a definite time to close up shop for
the day. STICK TO IT at least for one week to get a feel for
how much time you really need for each specific type of
task. Then, revise it as needed, and STICK to the revised
version.
A sample schedule might be...
a) Review To-Do List: 9:00 a.m.
b) Check and answer e-mails: 9:10 a.m.
c) Start doing most urgent task(s) on To-Do List: 9:30
a.m.
d) Lunch: 1:00 p.m.
e) Check and answer e-mails again over lunch: 1:00 p.m.
f) Get back to task(s) on to-Do List 1:30 p.m.
g) Wrap up for the day, check and answer e-mails again:
5:45 p.m.
h) Leave office 6:00 p.m. NO EXCEPTIONS!
Of course, your schedule is not engraved in stone. To
hold yourself to a rigid schedule would negate one of the
greatest benefits of freelancing...
Being able to do what you need to when you really need
to, without having to go by someone else's clock. Run
errands if you have to, take one more half-hour answering
e-mail if you want to, leave the office one hour later if
you must, but try to stick to the schedule as much as you
can. It's meant to be a structural aid to increase your
efficiency and productivity while helping you conserve your
energies - it isn't meant to be a prison.
The component of your schedule that should be the closest
to being ironclad is the time you leave your office every
evening. Notice how I put a specific time to leave the
office, with "NO EXCEPTIONS" in caps next to it.
Since I'm a "one-woman" band with no assistants, that is
all the more reason for me NOT to stay in the office till
all hours of the night, but to jealously guard and conserve
my energies and take care of myself.
If I am sick, burned out, or exhausted for whatever
reason, nobody else will be there to take up the slack for
my business, and that's it! Therefore, I do everything in my
power to prevent myself from getting sick, burned out, and
exhausted - and a big part of the prevention work is
creating clear boundaries of "office time" and "me time" for
both my clients and myself so that I don't collapse from
exhaustion or create opportunities for clients, potential
clients, and colleagues to disrespect my time.
After 6 p.m. and on weekends, my time is "me time" - no
exceptions - and I don't hesitate to make that crystal clear
to everyone I know and work with.
A translator acquaintance of mine made the mistake of
making herself available for on-call rush translations 24
hours a day. In the beginning, she thought this was a great
idea because it would bring in a lot of money from rush
charges, but all it led to was a tremendous headache.
Often, difficult, unreasonable people would awaken her
with telephone calls at 2, 3, 5 in the morning demanding
that she do weird translations in fields she didn't
specialize in. Since it was so early in the morning, she
couldn't call her fellow translators to refer the work to
them, and had to take a deep breath and tell these very
impatient potential clients...
"I'm sorry, but..."! And when the work was actually in a
field that was one of her specialties, the clients were so
difficult to work with, expecting her to perform miracles,
or the work was such a pain in the butt that the extra pay
wasn't even worth it.
Her final observation on the fiasco was this: "You have
to train puppies not to bark, because if you don't, they'll
bark at you incessantly when they grow to become dogs." When
she changed her policy, set boundaries, and learned to
"train" her clients, lo and behold, they stopped "barking"
at her.
I myself leave my office at 6 p.m. every evening, no
exceptions - even if I am involved in a rush project. (If
I'm working on a rush project, I simply dedicate the entire
workDAY to it, and shift everything else to the back burner
till it gets done; I allow my answering machine to screen
all my calls and do not take any phone calls or answer
e-mails.)
Whenever I take on a new client, I emphasize that I
always leave my office at 6 p.m., and never work on weekends
or evenings unless I'm paid double. None of my clients have
ever had a problem with this, and have always respected the
boundaries I've set for them and for myself. Most of them
have set workdays too, after all.
And I dare say that many of them would tell you that they
won't go to someone else who works 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, because they know they'd be taking their work to
extremely tired translators who make horrid mistakes due to
lack of sleep, or to wannabe translators who are in it only
for the money and make horrid mistakes because volume and
easy money is all they care about.
I am aware that some of you may be thinking, "All this is
easy for you to say, but when you need money, you must make
yourself available." That is indeed true to a certain
extent, but you have to remember to take care of yourself as
well.
If you play fast and loose with your resources and
physical endurance without trying to conserve your energies,
you could end up collapsing, and if that day comes, you
won't be able to work and earn money anyway.
When you set boundaries, live by them, and enforce them
from the start, believe me, other people will respect them
just as you do.
Good clients won't blink at paying you more when they
need you to work outside those boundaries. And the "bum"
ones, who will quite readily go elsewhere, are not people
you would want to work with anyway.
Part 2 next issue :)
_________________________________________________________
Mary C. Maloof is a certified Spanish > English
translator who resides in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
She is the founder and moderator of "SpTranslators," an
Internet mailing list for Spanish translators, founder and
moderator of "Legaltranslators," an Internet mailing list
for legal translators, director of The American Web for
International Languages, a worldwide job referrals network
for translators and interpreters, and owner of Maloof
Language Services, Inc., which offers a wide range of
translation and interpretation services. For more
information about her work, please contact her at
mmaloof@sprintmail.com
Mary also offers consulting services to translators -
contact her for more details.
________________________________________________________________
Translation Joke of the Month
*****************************
More foreign travel funnies...
RUSSIA
In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian
Orthodox monastery...
You are welcome to visit the cemetary where famous
Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are
buried daily except Thursday.
From the Soviet Weekly...
There will be a Moscow Exhibition of Arts by 150,000
Soviet Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed
over the past two years.
On the door of a Moscow hotel room...
If this is your first visit to USSR, you are welcome to
it.
Christian Faucheux runs META the spiritual linguist
newsletter which contains a lot of language and translation
related jokes
http://www.all-languages.com/bulletin.html
...and this was sent in by Dov Prombaum. Thanks Dov :)
An American is teaching English in Russia. The class is
reading their compositions aloud and when a student reads
the phrase, "I took my girlfriend out to dinner last night
and the restaurant was not inexpensive," she comments that
this is an excellent example of how English uses two
negatives to make a positive.
Whereupon one student asks, "In Russian, two positives
can be used to make a negative. Can you do this in English?"
The teacher thinks for a moment and says, "No, English
doesn't have anything like that," when a student in the back
shouts out, "Yeah, right." The teacher realizes the
significance of what he has said, turns red, and retorts,
"OK, fine!"
***
============== ITI Weekend Workshop 2000 ================
The 2000 ITI Workshop weekend will take place on 16/17
September at Mason Hall, University of Birmingham. The major
theme this year is Public Service Interpreting.
Contact Maria Cordero at Maria.Cordero@iti.org.uk
=================================================================
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If you have a business you'd like me to
feature on the site, send details of the
opportunity to the address below.
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If you'd like individual advice on where
to start, contact me with a few details about
yourself, including name, address, particular
skills and the type of work you would and/or would
not be interested in.
Internet
Homeworking Directory
or write, enclosing SAE, to:
Mrs L O'Connor, 91B Acton Lane, London,
NW10 8UT
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